Local bridge projects tip of the iceberg on repair backlog

Construction continues on the Schuylkill River bridge that connects Union and Amity Township. The bridge work is being done by J.D. Eckman Inc. and the company is still on schedule with the completion date of upcoming December of 2014. Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury

Mercury Graphic by Evan Brandt
Local PennDOT bridges which are structurally deficient

With the exception of Alaska, no state has more stream and river miles than Pennsylvania, so it makes sense that the Keystone State also has an exceptionally large number of bridges to cross those streams and rivers.

With 25,000 bridges owned by the state alone, Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation for the number of bridges.

And that may be one of the contributing factors to a more sobering statistic in which we rank No. 1 — that no state has more structurally-deficient bridges than we do.

The region is also home to another dubious statistical distinction — the most structurally deficient bridge in the state, which is the Route 345 Bridge over the Schuylkill River in Birdsboro.

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The good news is that a replacement Schuylkill River bridge for Route 345 is currently under construction.

That $14.5 million replacement project was begun in August 2012 and is expected to be completed sometime this summer, said PennDOT spokesman Ronald Young.

Just a bit downstream, work is beginning on another structurally-deficient Berks County bridge over the Schuylkill River.

Along the aptly-named River Bridge Road, the state has just completed the replacement of the 92-year-old bridge over the Norfolk-Southern freight rail tracks near Route 422 and work is now beginning to replace the superstructure of the 63-year-old River Bridge over the river itself.

Work is expected to be completed by July 2015.

Combined, the two River Bridge Road bridge projects are expected to cost $8.4 million.

Both that project and the Route 345 bridge project, were won by J. D. Eckman.

Although begun before its passage this year, PennDOT officials say the passage of the transportation bill last year, and the additional gasoline taxes which fund it, will make even more money available to address Pennsylvania’s many structurally deficient and “functionally obsolete” bridges.

Act 89 — which in addition to removing gas tax caps also increased fees for registration and license fees as will as increasing fines for traffic violations — will generate $188 million for state roads and bridges and another $35 million for local roads and bridges for this year alone.

By the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the bill will have generated $1.65 billion for major roads and bridges and another $237 million for local roads and bridges.

It couldn’t come soon enough.

In its 2013 report, the American Society for Civil Engineers, rated Pennsylvania at a C-minus for the number of its bridges which are structurally deficient or “functionally obsolete” — which means bridges that no longer meet current engineering and traffic safety standards.

According to their report, Pennsylvania has 22,699 bridges and 9,910 of them, or 44 percent, are either structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, or both.

(The American Society for Civil Engineers also calculates that 57 percent of Pennsylvania’s major roads are of “poor or mediocre quality,” which costs the average Pennsylvania motorist $341 a year.)

More locally, Berks County has 844 bridges of which 313 are either structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or both. That’s a little over 37 percent.

In Chester County, 302 of the 850 bridges in the county, or 35.5 percent, are either structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or both.

Montgomery County has 1,096 bridges and, according to the American Society for Civil Engineers, 384 of them are either are structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or both.

Its also important to remember that many of the bridges in question are locally owned, either by a county or a smaller municipality.

Some municipalities in the Pottstown area may soon be looking at a regional approach to the issue.

Wednesday night, the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee reviewed a new transportation infrastructure computer database created for its eight member municipalities — Pottstown, West Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, Douglass (Mont.), New Hanover, North Coventry and East Coventry — by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The map and spreadsheet database will allow each municipalities to sort its roads and bridges by a number of variables, including age, date of last repair, or ownership, said Jerry Coyne, manager of transportation studies for DVRPC.

He also said the database could be used as a way for the eight municipalities to contract for regional inspections of the 43 bridges and share the costs.

About the Author

Evan Brandt has worked for The Mercury since November 1997. His beat includes Pottstown, the surrounding townships and the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts, as well as other varied general topics like politics, the environment and education. Reach the author at ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
or follow Evan on Twitter: @PottstownNews.